Campaign finance records: Knight declined NRA contributions

Congressman Steve Knight listens to constituent questions as an attendee raises green paper in agreement during a town hall at the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center in Simi Valley on Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Katharine Lotze/The Signal

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Rep. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, said Wednesday he didn’t take money from the National Rifle Association, ahead of the campaign finance filing deadlines for the current election quarter Sept. 30.When asked on a local podcast if he had recently taken money from the NRA, Knight said he didn’t, a statement reflected accurately in his federal campaign finance records.The Federal Election Commission documents reveal the NRA sent donations to Knight’s campaign, but the campaign declined the most recent donations in 2018 because it never deposited them, Knight campaign spokesman Matt Rexroad said Wednesday.The NRA’s political action committee shows its most recent donations to Knight’s campaign this election cycle were: $1,000 in July 2017, $1,500 in May 2018, and $2,500 in July 2018, according to the Federal Elections Commission.The only contribution from the NRA shown in Knight’s filings is the $1,000, deposited in August 2017 before the congressman decided to stop taking money from the NRA in 2018, Rexroad said.Rexroad said the campaign reported the contributions it accepts in its filings, but the NRA reports contributions it sends out regardless of if they are deposited. The $1,500 contribution in May was declined this summer because it was never deposited, Rexroad said. He said the $2,500 contribution was mailed to and deposited by the campaign’s treasurer by mistake, but was subsequently refunded back to the NRA in recent weeks. “When the books close on Sept. 30 for this quarter’s campaign finance filings, our campaign will show no contributions from the NRA this quarter either,” Rexroad said. Knight said he had decided to stop taking money from the NRA this year, before he went on the podcast on Aug. 22.“The NRA sent us money, but we’ve returned it,” Knight said Wednesday. “That’s the commitment we made this year, and we’ve stuck to it. We said we are responsible to our constituents, and I know a lot of people out there have their concerns with the NRA, and we’ve stuck to it.”The NRA sent out $4,000 in 2018 to Knight’s campaign, which has raised $1.7 million between January 2017 and July 2018. Knight accepted $3,000 from the NRA during the 2016 election cycle.

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Crystal Duan

Crystal Duan is the Signal's political reporter, covering City Council, the county and other happenings around the city. She graduated from the University of Missouri's journalism school and has worked at the Indianapolis Star and Minneapolis Star Tribune. She has been with the Signal since March 2018.